A pet is a good companion—in the singular not the plural
Many moose mean much merriment—or do they?
Little redheaded, freckled white Martha wants a pet. She consults several books and with great enthusiasm decides to get a moose. The match between Martha and moose is so felicitous that she goes online and orders “one more… // and one more and one more / until she had four!” But even four are not enough, and Martha keeps adding to her menagerie. The moose all happily participate in many activities, many of which start with the letter M: mixing up mud pies, solving math equations, making muffins, and dancing to a mambo beat. Alas, one day the many moose “run amok!” and make messes and mistakes. So back they go, via mail, except for the first moose. Bakos has written a humorous tale filled with rhythm and M-wordplay. Is it an object lesson in the chimerical nature of wish fulfillment or the dangers of online ordering? Maybe, but more than anything, this is great fun to read aloud and an entertaining ode to human-animal friendship. Chambers’ digital illustrations on a white background present moose that are animated, antic, and delightfully personable.
A pet is a good companion—in the singular not the plural . (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-0935-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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